Efforts to Postpone North Carolina Municipal Elections

40 North Carolina Cities may postpone their 2021 Election

This includes Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro, and Mooresville. Because of COVID-19 related delays to the Census data, municipalities with district elections have been seeking legal guidance and legislative solutions on what to do for their 2021 elections. Read more here….

Update: Senate Bill 722 is now law. Charlotte’s Municipal Primary Election will be on March 8, 2022.

The Solution

Sen. Warren Daniel has filed S722: Revise Municipal Redistricting/Census :

 OVERVIEW: “Senate Bill 722 would require a city council to evaluate existing electoral district boundaries the year federal decennial census data is released to determine if revision of the district boundaries is necessary to comply with State and federal law. If the city council has adopted revisions to the electoral district boundaries before the third business day before the opening of the filing period for the municipal election, the municipal election will continue as scheduled. If not, the city council would have the option of adopting a resolution delaying that municipal election and to set a new filing period for candidates for the rescheduled municipal election “- Bill Summary

What this Means:

Municipal elections were supposed to start Monday, July 26, 2021, with candidate filing. However, the U.S. Census Bureau has delayed the legacy data of the population results to August 16, and the redistricting data toolkit will be released by September 30, 2021. This delay will force cities, like Charlotte who need to rebalance their City Council District population, to push back the election.

Cities that choose to push back their elections
would follow this Election Schedule in 2022.

  • 2021 Primary: Rescheduled to March 8, 2022
    The Municipal Primaries would correspond with the Mar 8, US Senate primaries. Along with the redistricted Congressional Seats, State Legislature, Judicial Seats and County Elections.

  • 2021 General Election: Rescheduled to April 26, 2022
    The General and Nonpartisans Final Election would be on Apr 26 or May 17.

    • Alternate Date: May 12, 2022 - 2021 General Election

      If a runoff is needed for the 2022 election (no candidates gets the needed % of the total vote to win the primary) then the rescheduled 2021 General and Nonpartisans final election and the 2022 runoff election would be on May 17.

  • 2021 Runoff Election: Not Happening
    This legislation eliminated the requirement for a municipal runoff election for the 2021 rescheduled election. This means rescheduled municipal election in 2022 will not have a runoff.

The Complication

Bottom of the Ballot
City Council Elections are stand alone elections in the odd numbered years. City issues and candidates receive all the political attention, news coverage and community forums and fundraiser. By moving the election to an even year, the City Council and the County Commission will be running at the same time. The Mayors race which is usually at the top of the ballot will be at the bottom of the ballot.

Increase in voters
City Elections have very low turnouts compared to even year elections, turnout is typically under 10% of the electorate for a municipal primary. Next years primary is unexpected to be around a 30% turnout. The US Senate Primary and the newly redrawn congressional districts will also consume most of the political attention and news coverage.

Loss in the Incumbency Advantage
With an increase of voters, lower placement on the ballot and less attention on municipal elections incumbents will be more at risk then in traditional odd year elections. Also if the general election corresponds with primary run off, there is an opportunity for a political party to steal a seat or for an unaffiliated to be elected.

Unknowns

School Boards District Elections
Mecklenburg School Board Districts Seat election is scheduled for November of 2021. This legislation does not apply to School Boards needing to redistrict for 2021. However, there is still hope that redistricting data toolkit will be released in time for those elections to continue as scheduled.
This Election will happen Nov. 8, 2022.

Charlotte’s Transit Tax
It is possible that Charlotte may try to include a transit tax referendum onto the 2021 municipal general election, however those efforts are unclear. Read more here

A Split Election
There also remains the option that the Mayoral and City Council At-Large Elections take place as scheduled in 2021, and only the District Elections are rescheduled to 2022. In order for this to happen there must be 6 votes by Charlotte City Council to separate the election, otherwise both will in 2022.


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B Holladay